The Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office is investigating a number of reported phone scams in the area in which anonymous callers ask residents to wire money in order to save distressed relatives. In one such incident on Sunday, a woman received a call that her husband had been injured in an accident. The caller threatened to kill the woman's husband if she did not send money.

The woman, who lives in Metairie, told deputies she got a call Sunday at 7:20 a.m. from a blocked number. Speaking in Spanish, the man on the other end of the line asked the woman if she had a husband, to which she replied, "Yes." The woman then provided her husband's name after the caller asked for it. At that point, the caller told the woman her husband was in a car accident with his brother, and was hurt.

"We have your husband and if you don't send us $1,000 we are going to kill him," the man said, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office.

The now-frightened woman told the caller she didn't have $1,000, and the caller continued asking her how much money she had until she divulged that she had $300. The man then instructed her to stay on the phone, and go to the nearest Western Union to wire the money to him.

The woman went to a supermarket in the 200 block of Veterans Memorial Blvd., where she wired $300 to someone named Carla Jimenez in Puerto Rico. The man provided the woman with a confirmation number, then told her to rip up her receipt. The man then hung up.

The woman's husband called her a short time later, and said he was not involved in any accident. Realizing the call was a scam, the couple filed a report with the Sheriff's Office. Later Sunday, the JPSO 911 center received several other calls reporting similar scams.

Because the scam calls came from outside the area, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office plans to ask the FBI for help in identifying the origin of the calls.

The Sheriff's Office said there is typically in uptick in scams during the holiday season; it warns residents to avoid giving out personal information, and call 911 if a phone call or an approaching stranger seems suspicious.